Numerous apparatus are known to the art for interconnecting a telephone subscriber premises line to an incoming telephone company line. Also apparatus are known to the art for connecting incoming cable television signals to a television subscriber's television set. Further, combination apparatus are known to the art for interconnecting both an incoming telephone company line to a telephone subscriber premises line and an incoming cable television signals to a television subscriber's television set. For example, apparatus for connecting an incoming telephone line with a telephone subscriber premises line are disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,979,209 entitled INDIVIDUAL SUBSCRIBER LINE MODULE, patented Dec. 18, 1990, Thomas J. Collins et al. inventors, and assigned to the assignee of the present invention. U.S. Pat. No. 4,979,209 is incorporated herein by reference as if fully reproduced herein and is referred to hereinafter as "the '209 patent." Other apparatus for interconnecting an incoming telephone line with a telephone subscriber premises line is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,297,199 entitled APPARATUS FOR CONNECTING AND DISCONNECTING SUBSCRIBER PREMISES LINE AND INCOMING TELEPHONE COMPANY LINE, Thomas G. Graham et al. inventors, patented Mar. 22, 1994 and assigned to the same assignee as the present invention. U.S. Pat. No. 5,297,199 is incorporated herein by reference as if fully reproduced herein and is referred to hereinafter as "the '199 patent." Combination telephone and cable television interconnecting apparatus are disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,394,466 entitled COMBINATION TELEPHONE NETWORK INTERFACE AND CABLE TELEVISION APPARATUS AND CABLE TELEVISION MODULE, Pina Schneider et al. inventors, patented Feb. 28, 1995 and assigned to the same assignee as the present invention. U.S. Pat. No. 5,394,466 is incorporated herein by reference as if fully reproduced herein and is referred to hereinafter as "the '466 patent."
Generally, these prior art apparatus are for connecting a subscriber's premises line with an incoming telephone company line from a single telephone company, or single provider of telephone signals, or for connecting a customer's television set with incoming cable television signals from a single cable television company or single provider of cable television signals, or combinations thereof.
The "telephone line," as known to those skilled in the art, typically comprises a pair of copper or copper alloy conductors sometimes referred to as a twisted pair or a twisted pair of copper or copper alloy conductors. The term "telephone line signals" as used herein and in the appended claims means telephone signals, video signals, data signals, and any other signal that can be transmitted over a telephone line including signals which can be transmitted over a telephone line using signal compression techniques, signal rate enhancement techniques, or any other technique for increasing or enhancing the signal transmitting capability or capacity of a telephone line. The term "broadband signals" as used herein and in the appended claims means video signals such as cable television signals, data signals, telephone signals, and any other signal that can be transmitted over a coaxial cable. The term "subscriber service signals," as used herein and in the appended claims, means "telephone line signals" and/or "broadband signals" as defined herein. The term "subscriber premises line" as used herein and in the appended claims means a telephone subscriber premises line for receiving telephone line signals and/or a subscriber coaxial cable for receiving broadband signals. The term "incoming service line" as used herein and in the appended claims means an incoming telephone line carrying telephone signals as defined herein and/or an incoming coaxial cable carrying broadband signals as defined herein.
The relatively recent availability to a subscriber or customer of at least some subscriber service signals from a plurality of providers of such subscriber service signals, has given rise to a need for apparatus for providing the plurality of subscriber service signal providers with easy access to the subscriber premises line to permit the service provider chosen by the subscriber to connect its incoming service line to the subscriber premises line. More particularly, such availability has given rise to the need for apparatus for permitting a service provider, newly chosen by the subscriber, to connect its incoming service line to the subscriber premises line, even if such connection requires the newly chosen service provider to disconnect the incoming service line of a previously chosen service provider before the newly chosen service provider can connect its incoming service line to the subscriber premises line.